For the past year, Arlington has offered an informal adult drop-in soccer program once a week. Although initially targeted at beginning players, the current drop-in program has evolved to be relatively skilled intermediate-level play. While fun for the players who participate, it has not been a great place for people who are just beginning to learn to play soccer.

This summer, we have field space to offer two separate drop-in soccer programs, Wednesday nights for intermediate players (the current players, people who have been playing a few years, or played as a teenager and are getting back into the game, or are just starting out but are in pretty good physical shape) and Tuesday nights for beginners (just learning the game, played a bit as a child but not since then, aging/out of shape with long-past soccer experience, etc.) This is a coed program on both nights, although women may want to have more experience to play in the intermediate program. This program is NOT for people who play in any outdoor league, in or out of Arlington. It is for people who are trying to learn (or re-learn) the game and don’t have other opportunities to play. (I apologize if you are receiving this email and we’ve already discussed the program and decided you are "too good a player" to participate—I can’t remember who you are. Let me know and I’ll take you off my email list.)

To be deleted from this email group list, please email me back with that request and include your name.

Also, at the end of this email are comments related to feedback from the survey sent to previous drop-in soccer participants. Please slog through to the end if you want to see that information.

• Location. Tuesday and Wednesday night programs will be held at Greenbrier Stadium (Yorktown H.S., 5201 N. 28th Street).

• Dates/Times. Beginners will play on Tuesday and intermediates on Wednesday. Play will begin June 1 and 2 and run through August 3 and 4 (ten weeks). The time will be 8:30-9:55 pm (the lights go out promptly at 10:00).

• Cost. The cost for the summer session is $50 for Arlington residents and $70 for non-residents. No refunds will be given for cancellations due to lightning, field scheduling conflicts (although I don’t expect any), or anything else.

• Priority. To avoid overcrowding on the field we will limit registration for each session to about 40 people. Priority will be given to returning players and to Arlington residents; non-Arlington players will be accepted if space is available. Please reply by Monday, May 24 if possible.

• Registration. We will have a new online registration and payment system starting for this session. However, that system will not be up and running for a few weeks, after drop-in play actually begins. So unfortunately, you’re going to have to register twice—first with a reply email to me, and later online with your payment.

  If you would like to register for the beginner or intermediate summer pick-up soccer sessions, please send me a reply email with the information requested at the bottom of this email. People who were registered for the winter or spring session do not need to send all the contact and experience information—just your name will be sufficient, which session you’re signing up for, plus any changes. However, if this will be your first time registering for drop-in soccer, or you did not play recently, please fill out all of the registration information requested below.

  Please register for the session that fits your experience level, not the night that works best for you. We really want to have a beginner-level opportunity for people who are not yet very skilled or competitive. I reserve the right to request that a player change nights or drop out if he/she is not registered for the appropriate session.

• Payment. Payment will be made online later. I will send an email to everyone who has signed up once the online registration is ready.

• Sportsmanship. There are no referees, so players are responsible for calling out of bounds, offside, and refraining from violent fouls. Sportsmanship is a high priority—this play is just for fun. We don’t give out any trophies, college scholarships, or MVP awards. No sliding or slide tackling or is allowed. Please play in a way that will not injure others, and please do what you can to ensure that the play does not get rough or very competitive.

• Weather. Arlington’s synthetic fields are used rain or shine, so please plan to come even if it’s raining. Other players will show up. The County’s inclement weather hotline is 703-228-4715, but synthetic fields will usually be closed only if there is a huge thunderstorm. Usually players will make that decision at the field. County guidelines say that if there is a lightning strike, everyone should leave the field and wait in their cars for at least 20 minutes after the last lightning strike before play can be resumed. We do not have a referee at the drop-in games, so it is up to the players to exercise good judgment and leave the field if there is lightning.

• Equipment. Please bring the following to the field.

  • Two shirts: one white shirt and one blue or other dark-colored shirt
  • Water
  • Shinguards (required)
  • Size 5 ball (if you have one; we only need one or two)

• Team Division. Depending on how many people show up, you can decide at the field whether to play one full-sized game (11 v 11, or more, with or without subs) or one or two small cross-field games (6 v 6, 8 v 8, or ??) using small portable goals, cones, or lacrosse goals if they are available (and are carried, not dragged, on and off the field).

• Survey. Some respondents raised questions in the survey sent out a month or two ago to drop-in soccer participants, and I wanted to provide information that might help people understand a bit more about this program.

  • We have to charge a fee for participants because income from the drop-in soccer program needs to cover what the field rental rate would be if the County was to rent out the field. The Arlington resident rental rate is $115/hour for a lighted synthetic turf field. I have generally set the drop-in season fee to equal $5/night (if the participant attended all sessions), which has worked out in the past to pretty much cover the rental rate.
  • Some people asked why drop-in soccer couldn’t always be at Greenbrier. Field scheduling is always a challenge, because there are so many competing users. High school sports get priority on their fields in the spring and fall seasons. The County is not allowed (based on our memorandums of understanding) to schedule any use of Greenbrier or W-L after high school games. That makes it very hard to fit this program into Greenbrier in the spring and fall. It worked at W-L last fall because I scheduled drop-in play after band practice each week. The Wakefield stadium is open an hour later than W-L and Greenbrier, and does not have the post-game prohibition, so it is easier to fit community programs in there after some high school events. But we can’t use Wakefield for soccer in the fall. Bottom line—I will try for Greenbrier or W-L, but some seasons it will not work and Wakefield will be the only option.

   

• Caveat for Fall. I do not know if there will be field space in the fall for both a beginner and intermediate drop-in program (i.e., two nights). It could be difficult to schedule, and I cannot commit to offering both programs after the summer sessions end. I want to see what the turnout is, and see what fields are available, to see if this will be viable.

If you have questions about Arlington’s drop-in soccer program, or are unsure about which group you should register for, please feel free to contact me by phone or email. Thank you for your interest in playing soccer in Arlington.

Contact

Marta Cahill
Sports Programmer
Arlington PRCR Sports Office
3700 S. Four Mile Run Drive
Arlington, VA 22206
703-228-1818
703-228-1825 fax
mcahill@arlingtonva.us

Drop-In Soccer Registration

• Returning Registrant

  Name:

  Session (Tue Beginner or Wed Intermediate):

  Any Change in Contact Info?

• New Registrant

  Name:

  Session (Tuesday Beginner or Wednesday Intermediate):

  Email Address:

  Home Address:

  Phone:

  Describe your soccer ability/experience level: